Actually, in fact, The Red line WAS Supposed to continue past Alewife along the median strip of the never-built Route 3 freeway, then just shy of 128, turn off Route 3 to get to Bedford. Or unless it was to continue to the Burlington Mall.

I always thought the red line was supposed to parallel the Mass Ave (Route 2A) corridor through Arlington and Lexington, ending around 128 near Hanscom? I know the Orange Line was supposed to north to around Reading...

I've never heard any proposal for median service on Route 3. Going back to BERy days, they wanted to extend the Cambridge-Dorchester line past Harvard to Watertown, over toward Alewife, and then follow the B&M to a terminus in Arlington Heights built on BERy's trolley yard. This eventually developed into the extension from Harvard-Porter-Davis-Alewife with the intention of busting west to Arlington Center. Besides Arlington's opposition to the "wrong type of people" moving in, the MBTA dropped the ball, waiting until the last minute to disclose their plans to build a large parking garage between Medford and Mystic Street. Though service only ever goes as far as Alewife, the tracks curve to the north after the station and end beneath Herd Field in Arlington.

Did we ever hear a music sweeter than the one that thrills, as it floats along the Deerfield, as it echoes o'er the hills. How we watch that little engine as it stalks across the plain; was there ever music sweeter, was there ever sight completer, than the coming of the train?

I don't now how far the plans advanced, but the story I know was the Red Line was projected to run up the B&M line through Bedford (Minuteman branch?). Lexington was all for it, town hall just waiting for the final plans to hit their desk so they could pitch in, Arlington dead set against it, and I don't know about Bedford.

So many proposals are made that generate a lot of talk but no action that it's hard to say anything was "supposed to happen". I don't doubt the RL was projected to run up unbuilt Route 3, or to that new international airport that Hanscomb didn't turn into.

Somewhat off topic- when the Tobin bridge was under construction the legislature passed a resolve to fund a study on building a double deck viaduct- 4 RR tracks on one level, divided highway on the other- all the way up to Salem. They don't seem to have funded the study, though.

Study examined a couple options for Red Line north, IIRC, but the main one was Alewife-Burlington Mall along the Lexington Branch ROW to Lexington Center. Can't remember what the alignment was post-Lexington Depot. My rusty memory (read study 25 years ago) tells me that stops would have been Arlington Center, Arlington Heights, Lexington and the Mall.

joshg1 wrote:I don't now how far the plans advanced, but the story I know was the Red Line was projected to run up the B&M line through Bedford (Minuteman branch?). Lexington was all for it, town hall just waiting for the final plans to hit their desk so they could pitch in, Arlington dead set against it, and I don't know about Bedford.

From what I can remember there was Arlington Center, Arlington Heights, then at some point in the future on to Lexington Center and Rte 128 area, following the Lexington Branch. It took a hundred years to get from Harvard Square out to Alewife

Burlington (and 128) so desperately needs public transit access with the concentration of businesses there. But there seems to be absolutely zero long term plan in place. Does Burlington have such poor representation in the state gov that they can’t get something in the docket?

The Minuteman Bikeway is popular enough and well-used enough that even if not a legal necessity (which I agree it is not), it would be a political necessity to include it in any reuse of the corridor as rail.

Copy BART and build a dinky with GTWs running from Bedford Center or the VA/Middlesex Community College to Alewife, using the T's MOW facility as a yard for the DEMUs. Keep the ROW single-tracked in places where you need to do it to keep the Bikeway, as the tightest they'd ever be running is 15 minute headways during rush hour.

No matter what though, hands-down, low floor non-FRA DMUs would be the cheapest way to return service to Arlington/Lexington/Bedford, while opening the door to further extensions to Burlington, etc.

DMU service on the Lexington Branch would be a welcome addition to the Boston Commuter portfolio. Add some infill stations between North Station and Porter, a station at Alewife, and mimic most of the Lexington Branch station sites (Lake St/East Arlington, Arlington Center, Arlington Heights, East Lexington, Lexington Center, North Lexington) before terminating at a RT128 park and ride/layover facility. Eventually a new ROW could bust over to Burlington paralleling the 128 Corridor.

Did we ever hear a music sweeter than the one that thrills, as it floats along the Deerfield, as it echoes o'er the hills. How we watch that little engine as it stalks across the plain; was there ever music sweeter, was there ever sight completer, than the coming of the train?